UWorld vs Becker CPA: prices, pass guarantees and which one to buy

On September 8, 2026 UWorld Elite-Unlimited was $2,299, marked down from a $3,899 list price, and Becker Advantage was $2,499 with no discount while Becker Pro was $2,499 on a promotion that expired that night against a $3,845 list. Both cap their pass guarantee at $1,000. Becker is the course firms reimburse and the only one of the two with live classes; UWorld is the one with the Roger lectures and unlimited access at a lower price. If you are paying yourself, buy UWorld on promotion. If your employer is paying or you want live instruction, buy Becker.

Every figure in this article was read from accounting.uworld.com and becker.com on September 8, 2026. That is worth stating because almost every other comparison of these two courses is published by a site that earns a commission on whichever link you click, and because both vendors discount so often that an undated price is worthless.

How much does UWorld CPA cost compared to Becker?

Here is the awkward part of the comparison, and it is not a criticism so much as a fact you need before you shop. Becker publishes all of its prices. UWorld publishes one. We checked the UWorld course page twice on the same day, once by reading the raw server HTML and once by rendering it in a browser and photographing the pricing table, and in both cases the three package prices came back as a bare dollar sign. The nineteen-row feature matrix underneath renders perfectly. Only the numbers are missing, and they appear at checkout.

The one number UWorld does state is the sale banner: "SAVE $1,600, CPA Elite-Unlimited Course, Now $2,299, $3,899". Elsewhere on its own site UWorld describes its range as "about $1,999 to $2,899 after discounts". The Affirm financing minimums render under all three packages even when the prices do not, at $97, $112 and $141 a month, which at least tells you the order of the tiers. We have written up the full UWorld CPA Review price picture, including the stand-alone question bank at $299 per section, on its own page.

There is a wrinkle in Becker's favor here that most comparisons miss. UWorld runs a page called "Compare CPA Review Course Discounts and Costs" that lists all four Becker prices and all three Gleim prices accurately, and leaves the UWorld column blank. We verified the Becker figures independently on becker.com and every one matched. So UWorld will happily tell you what Becker charges. It just will not tell you what it charges.

Which pass guarantee is actually better?

They are close to identical, and both are smaller than the marketing implies. UWorld refunds $250 per failed section up to a $1,000 maximum, and only on the Elite-Unlimited+ package. Becker also caps at $1,000, and reserves its full 100 percent money-back guarantee for the $6,349 Concierge package. Neither refunds what you pay your state board to re-sit, which is the cost that actually stings when a section goes wrong.

The practical difference is which tier the guarantee sits on. UWorld puts it on its most expensive package, so you cannot buy the guarantee without also buying all six sections and the printed books. Becker's $1,000 guarantee reaches further down its range. Neither is a reason to choose a course. Treat both as a discount on your second purchase rather than as insurance, and budget for the exam fees separately, which we break down in our guide to what the CPA exam costs.

What you get for the money

Both courses cover the same AICPA blueprints, so the content question is narrower than it looks. UWorld ships more than 9,000 multiple choice questions and over 500 task-based simulations with over 1,400 video lectures, the SmartPath readiness tool, and the UAsk AI assistant built into every package including the cheapest. Becker's headline assets are different in kind: live online classes, one-to-one tutoring sessions, printed textbooks it values at $500, a Final Review capstone at $599 and a Deep Dive Workshops bundle at $599.

The tutoring line is the one that justifies Becker's premium for some people. Twenty-five one-to-one sessions is a genuinely different product from a question bank, and it is the reason large firms standardise on Becker rather than the cheapest option. If nobody is reimbursing you, though, you are paying for a delivery model you may never use.

Is UWorld CPA the same as Roger CPA Review?

Yes. UWorld acquired Roger CPA Review and the current course still markets itself as the best of Roger and Wiley, so the lecture style people bought Roger for survived. What changed underneath is the question bank, which is now UWorld house material with the same rationale style UWorld uses on its medical products, explaining why each wrong answer is wrong rather than only naming the right one. If you are pricing Roger CPA Review, this is the product you are pricing. Anything still selling under the Roger name at a 2019 price is old stock.

Do not forget the third and fourth options

Framing this as a two-horse race is how people overspend. Surgent sells until-you-pass access to all six sections from $799, and Gleim discounts its Traditional package from $2,499 to $1,249 according to the comparison table UWorld itself publishes. That puts the real range for the same four core sections at roughly $799 to $6,349, an eight to one spread. We keep the full set of CPA review courses compared with current prices, and a dedicated breakdown of Becker CPA cost at every package.

One more thing worth deciding before you buy rather than after. Your discipline section is the one that shows on your license, and it should follow the work you actually want. If you are picking BAR because you want to end up doing financial analysis and company valuation work, that is a good reason. Picking it because a forum said it was easiest is not, and you will be studying material you never use again.

Which one should you buy?

Buy Becker if your employer reimburses it, if you want live classes and one-to-one tutoring, or if you know from experience that you need scheduled instruction to keep momentum. Buy UWorld Elite-Unlimited if you are self-funding, you want the Roger lectures, and you can catch it during one of the promotions it runs more or less continuously, which on the day we checked meant $2,299 instead of $3,899. Buy Surgent if the budget is the binding constraint. Buy the UWorld QBank alone at $299 a section if you already sat a section and just need drilling before a retake.

Whatever you choose, the thing that actually moves a score is answered questions with explanations you read properly, and courses ration those by tier and by clock. That is the gap Aspirants.ai fills at $9 a month: unlimited generated CPA questions across AUD, FAR, REG and your discipline section, every answer choice explained, and follow-up questions answered at eleven at night when a rationale has not landed. It is not a replacement for a review course, and we would not sell it as one. It is the practice volume underneath whichever course you buy. Try it on a few REG questions before you spend two thousand dollars, and you will at least know what your weak sections are.